They Were Legends
by Laura Huser
Summary: In the year 2005, Mozenrath has become a rock star, and Aladdin has lost his true love. How will things pan out for the archetypes of the past? 11 COMPLET CHAPTERS RR
1. Rain

The city was rainy and blue-gray. It usually was this time of year. He wasn't really sure why he was there, he had been all over trying to disappear every 30 years or so and this was just his next stop. From China to India, England to Arabia, Iceland to America. He'd been all over and everywhere people knew his name, but they didn't know him. It was better that way. It's what kept him going, kept him alive. Over the years, centuries even, people had spoken his name, told stories about him, wrote books, made movies and TV shows. Even if they did not represent the truth, he didn't mind. It was his commodity. It was that way for a lot of people, those whose names had been spoken so much it was commonly accepted that they had never lived at all. But they were legends, and legends never die.

Cinderella, John Henry, Ajax, Johnny Apple seed, Robin Hood…. Aladdin, along with many others, was among their ranks. He had also met a few in his wonderings. He could never stay one place to long or people would become suspicious of his ageless face and an ever so faint sense of de ja vu they felt while around him. That was how he recognized others like him, that odd felling of familiarity while passing by.

The Legends that kept them alive were sometimes crude, sometimes embarrassing, sometimes completely false, but none of them complained too much, it was the only thing keeping them from fading into oblivion. Ajax has told him personally that it annoyed him that the mention of his name now a days conjured images of the bathroom scrub. He had also admitted it was a very good product and his sink was spotless. Aladdin had liked all the books that came out about him, groaned at all the movies, and tried to avoid seeing the TV show that ran at odd hours of the day on advanced cable. Not a whole lot of any of it was true. Most of the adventures they placed him in never happened. And some did. But none of it mattered much, people incorporated it into his Legend, so it was good as written in stone. Most had forgotten his Chinese origin and favored him as an Arab. It still didn't matter, he had the same black hair and dark eyes they envisioned him with.

And as Aladdin walked down the street from his job he didn't think about any of it. Now a days he worked at an inner city school teaching computer class. It was a decent living. He didn't miss his old life of adventure and decadence, you can only take so much of that before you need to settle down and have a normal life. It also kept his suspiciousness under wraps. There were certain things he did miss about his Legendary life. His princess was still alive but lost. Their love had been made perfect and all consuming in Legend, but the fact was they were both human. And nothing lasted forever. Even he himself would die someday. His name would stop being spoken and he would simply fade away.

That eventually was just not thought about, if you did think about it you were known to go crazy waiting for it. So as Aladdin strolled down the street he thought about his students grades, what to eat for dinner, the fact that he thought the color red was the poorer cousin of the color blue. Stupid mundane things like that. Just then loud rock music made him hunch his ears further into his shoulders as a club door opened. The man who emerged from the brightly colored gyrating lights shifted the collar of his leather jacket against the rain and reached for his lady complain before they started running for a car parked on the curb.

Aladdin silently moved out of the way and kept going without making eye contact, as they do in the city. Then… he stopped…. And turned. He knew them without seeing them. The man from the club also stopped halfway through opening the passenger door and turned back. With a look of utter amazement Aladdin stepped forward. With a look of utter malice Mozenrath shoved Nefret into the car and jumped behind the wheel, speeding off, sending muddy water cascading over Aladdin's head.

Aladdin watched them dive off, and take the corner sharply. He shook his head and started forward again, off into his boring existence. Just then the sound of a motor purring came up behind him. Mozenrath, perhaps at the insistence of is companion, had circled the block. The pale dark haired man reluctantly rolled down the window and ducked his head out.

"Get in out of the rain Aladdin."


	2. Rock

"So… how's life been?" Aladdin asked tentatively. He now sat in Mozenrath's apartment. For the city it was a spacious deal. The building had once been a factory but since made over into apartments. Most of them lay empty. Over the centuries Moze must have built up quite a deal of wealth, not money, money lost and gained value too often. Legends tended to live off of objects they collected and later sold when they were considered rare antiques. To afford his small house in the suburbs Aladdin had sold a sliver plated revolver he'd owned during the American Revolution. He had no doubt Mozenrath had quiet a fortune built up due to the fact he had no reserves about taking things that weren't his.

"Depends, when about do you mean? Because the Black Death was a very bad time for me, but I really enjoyed Woodstock." Mozenrath breathed out apathetically while staring out the window.

Aladdin smiled. "Let me rephrase. What have you been doing the last…. 20 years."

"Lots of things." Was the answer.

"The past 3 years then!" Aladdin was quickly loosing his patients. While most of his Legend was untrue, Mozenrath had actually been real. He had been the soul prince of an adjacent Asian Kingdom with a taste for the empire game. His powers had been grossly over stated, but his spoiled attitude had not. His Persian features were slim and rather feminine, however now he had let his black hair grow long and wore dark eye makeup. They had been rivals and those feelings had not dissipated over the eras. They had only come together now because they were both Legends, A dieing breed in this "the next big thing" kinda world.

"Well, I've finally pursued my inertest in music. I'm the leader of Dreadful Child."

"Never heard of it." Aladdin scoffed.

"That's the problem." Nefret laughed as she entered. She had removed her stage costume and now was in plain jeans and a tank top, her wild curly hair hung in a braid over her shoulder. She was not exactly as she was in her Legend, her hair as a sandy brown and her eyes coffee. The rest was pretty accurate. Nefret had once been Mozenrath's slave, taken as a trophy from Egypt just as the country fell into roman hands. In the Orient she was considered quite an exotic object. Maybe that was why she had worked her way up to Mozenrath's second wife. Aladdin didn't know, he had no real knowledge of their personal lives, all he had ever seen of these two was a strained companionship full of distain and bad history. "Not many people have." She finished while plopping down on an overstuffed couch.

"They will!" Mozenrath's hand came down on the table and he sneered. The ages had not mellowed his personality.

"You aren't exactly playing by Legend rules. Whatever happed to lying low, being normal to avoid the Familiarity Sense getting out of control?"

"You Legends who play by the rules have it all wrong!" Moze laughed and stood, curling up with Nefret on the couch. "The only way to make the 'Familiarity' less noticeable is to become famous! If everyone knows you because you're a star then they will attribute the de ja vu to your MTV videos! Not because you're the same hero their parents read about to them as a child! That was your problem Aladdin, always playing by the rule!"

"Some things never change!" Nefret suddenly got up and moved to the fridge, leaning over to examine its contents.

Aladdin looked to her and back at Mozenrath. "So where is Chroias, your queen?" He wondered if they had suffered the same fate as he and Jasmine.

"Her father Hades gave up the 'family business' and left it to her." Mozenrath sighed wistfully. "She drops by on the weekends. It's hard having a corporate wife, but we manage."

"And by some miracle of fate you managed to keep Nefret."

"No one can break up the three musketeers!" Mozenrath chuckled.

"It's a strange relationship, even by today's standers." Aladdin took the cola Nefret offered him. "Have you become Mormon?"

"No Aladdin. I've become a rock star."


	3. Love and Khakis

"So… how's life been?" Aladdin asked tentatively. He now sat in Mozenrath's apartment. For the city it was a spacious deal. The building had once been a factory but since made over into apartments. Most of them lay empty. Over the centuries Moze must have built up quite a deal of wealth, not money, money lost and gained value too often. Legends tended to live off of objects they collected and later sold when they were considered rare antiques. To afford his small house in the suburbs Aladdin had sold a sliver plated revolver he'd owned during the American Revolution. He had no doubt Mozenrath had quiet a fortune built up due to the fact he had no reserves about taking things that weren't his.

"Depends, when about do you mean? Because the Black Death was a very bad time for me, but I really enjoyed Woodstock." Mozenrath breathed out apathetically while staring out the window.

Aladdin smiled. "Let me rephrase. What have you been doing the last…. 20 years."

"Lots of things." Was the answer.

"The past 3 years then!" Aladdin was quickly loosing his patients. While most of his Legend was untrue, Mozenrath had actually been real. He had been the soul prince of an adjacent Asian Kingdom with a taste for the empire game. His powers had been grossly over stated, but his spoiled attitude had not. His Persian features were slim and rather feminine, however now he had let his black hair grow long and wore dark eye makeup. They had been rivals and those feelings had not dissipated over the eras. They had only come together now because they were both Legends, A dieing breed in this "the next big thing" kinda world.

"Well, I've finally pursued my inertest in music. I'm the leader of Dreadful Child."

"Never heard of it." Aladdin scoffed.

"That's the problem." Nefret laughed as she entered. She had removed her stage costume and now was in plain jeans and a tank top, her wild curly hair hung in a braid over her shoulder. She was not exactly as she was in her Legend, her hair as a sandy brown and her eyes coffee. The rest was pretty accurate. Nefret had once been Mozenrath's slave, taken as a trophy from Egypt just as the country fell into roman hands. In the Orient she was considered quite an exotic object. Maybe that was why she had worked her way up to Mozenrath's second wife. Aladdin didn't know, he had no real knowledge of their personal lives, all he had ever seen of these two was a strained companionship full of distain and bad history. "Not many people have." She finished while plopping down on an overstuffed couch.

"They will!" Mozenrath's hand came down on the table and he sneered. The ages had not mellowed his personality.

"You aren't exactly playing by Legend rules. Whatever happed to lying low, being normal to avoid the Familiarity Sense getting out of control?"

"You Legends who play by the rules have it all wrong!" Moze laughed and stood, curling up with Nefret on the couch. "The only way to make the 'Familiarity' less noticeable is to become famous! If everyone knows you because you're a star then they will attribute the de ja vu to your MTV videos! Not because you're the same hero their parents read about to them as a child! That was your problem Aladdin, always playing by the rule!"

"Some things never change!" Nefret suddenly got up and moved to the fridge, leaning over to examine its contents.

Aladdin looked to her and back at Mozenrath. "So where is Chroias, your queen?" He wondered if they had suffered the same fate as he and Jasmine.

"Her father Hades gave up the 'family business' and left it to her." Mozenrath sighed wistfully. "She drops by on the weekends. It's hard having a corporate wife, but we manage."

"And by some miracle of fate you managed to keep Nefret."

"No one can break up the three musketeers!" Mozenrath chuckled.

"It's a strange relationship, even by today's standers." Aladdin took the cola Nefret offered him. "Have you become Mormon?"

"No Aladdin. I've become a rock star."

The sun creeped through the smog of city and into the window of the old factory, striking on the heart pattern girl boxers of Nefret as she made the morning coffee. "You had a bad night."

"Tell me something I don't know!" Mozenrath sat at the kitchen table rubbing his forehead.

"Oh Mozenrath, still working on that dusty book that no body needs to read. What does it matter, the truth. It's all…" Nefret sighed, knowing he had done his whole 'over thinking' thing last night… again. He grumbled from the table as she tuned on the stereo "Ohhhhhhhh."

"Oh, no. Nefret not now." He begged, half dreading and half laughing. "No no no" He chuckled and reached for her, but she jumped away.

"Ohhhh, I would walk 500 miles." Nef began to sing and shook around the room in a comical dance. "And I would walk 500 more. It's the fee of the man who walks 1000 miles to end up at you door." She danced like a white man in a club singing "Curumba!" at the top her lungs until Mozenrath was in stitches, running after her just to get her to stop.

Miles away Aladdin was just heading out the door of his cracker box house to his classroom. There his day would be like the last day. His female students would stare at him dreamily, the male ones would wonder why he got all the attention, his teacher friends would try to set him up with the latest sub. Then he would have lunch, a few more classes and then it was time to head home, alone.

Al had always surrounded himself with people in the past. He gave all he had to other and had little thought of himself. And each time he would grow almost helplessly attached to a person or a group of people and then he would move on and break his heart and there's. On this cycle he decided he would try to be a little more solitary. He wanted to figure a few things out, like what it meant to be a Legend, why they existed at all. What exactly was the force keeping them alive, was there a purpose? A life after they were forgotten and "died?" So far there were a lot of questions and not many answers. He could always try to cooperate with other Legends, but the only one he had actually talked to for more than 5 minuets was…..

"Going home Al?" Asked Claudia, a fellow teacher who talked to him at least everyday, or tried to at least.

Aladdin looked at his watch and blinked at the fact that the day was already over. "I guess I am."

"Well… Good night." Claudia smiled briefly and then walked away quickly.

"Good night." He said just in time to see her disappear around a corner.

A blue VW skidded to a halt outside of the Yesterday's Dead Club, a refuge for gothic rock and all things loud and dark. Aladdin stuck his head out of the car and studied the joint before sighing and putting it in reverse to park.

The place was loud, even from just outside the door. The line was filled with vampires, men wrapped in chains and studded collars, gothic lolitas, women with wild colored hair and general rough looking people. The Legend was very out of place in his button down shirt and khaki pants.

Posters on the walls proclaimed that Dreadful Child would be playing all weekend.

"Come hear the beautiful music of the dark night and see the beauty of the innocent and the dreadful."

Mozenrath posed on the front, encompassing the childlike dressed Nefret in his long trench. It had a certain dark appeal he couldn't put his finger on. He pulled it off the wall, thumbing the paper.

"What's up with the Asian dude?" The blue haired man asked his tattooed girlfriend in the line just ahead.

"Who knows, maybe he thinks this is the line to the opening of a new Gap store." They both snickered and gave him a sideways glance. Al grimaced and started to feel his muscles twitch in an uncomfortable way. As nonchalantly as possible he folded up the paper, tucked it under his arm and strolled back to his car, punching it into reverse and getting the hell out of there.

The room was only half dark, light pouring in from the lit hallway light. Cloths were strung from the front door all the way to the end of the bed where Nefret had discarded her stockings. Mozenrath slept beside her, a bottle of Jack Daniels resting precariously in his hands. It was a normal scene of the weekends. After they got home from their set, and ensuing parties, Mozenrath and she would return home, him usually drunk and in a dark funk. Mozenrath would usually drink a bit more before giving her that eye. Afterwards they would crash and sleep it off until sometimes the next day.

A ring ripped through the apartment. It was only the telephone, but at 4 a.m. after such a night it sounded and felt like a gunshot. Nefret grumbled and searched for the cordless on the nightstand, Mozenrath didn't move.

"Hello." She answered in a whisper.

"Nef?" Was the response. "Oh, I'm glad I got you instead…" The man on the other end sounded just a bad as she did. "I uh… I'm really sorry to call you like this…" His voice cracked.

"Aladdin, what's wrong?" Nefret sat up, and rubbed her eyes, cradling the phone on her shoulder.

"I've just been thinking. I can't stop thinking actually, that's the problem. Running into you guys got me thinking….." He was rambling. "Nef I need to talk to you. To a fellow Legend."

She could tell he had been crying. "Al, do you know where the all night diner is?"

He met her there, at table three, sitting on the smooth red vinyl of the diner booths. "I'm glad you came. I was afraid…."

"Well I have a good nature." Nefret rubbed her face and pulled at her eye lids. "Just get me some coffee and I'll be a good listener to."

That done, Nefret did listen as Al poured his heart out. "Why am I here Nefret? Why are you here? And Mozenrath? I just don't understand the point. I lost her! So I'm supposed to live on and on and on without her because I once had her!" His voice rose and Nefret patted his hand. "Sorry." He lowered his voice. "I'm just so tired of trying to figure it out. I'm just tired." He sighed lowly

"Oh Aladdin please don't tell me…"

Al growled at her. "I can't die. I've tried… I've tried." They both shuttered. "I wanted to know if I'm even alive, if there is heaven, hell. I just want to know the TRUTH."

Nefret grimaced and looked away. "Truth. That's the only way you remind me of Mozenrath. You both want to know the truth." She paused and he looked at her oddly.

"Mozenrath had been searching for the truth to?"

Her fists balled. "Why does it matter! Why does the truth matter so much? I was much happier when I didn't know the truth."

Aladdin didn't miss the implication though Nef wished he did. "You know the truth?" He jumped on her like a dog on a t-bone.

"Pretend I didn't say that."

"I can't! I can't pretend. You have to tell me!"

"If I tell you…. You will wish I hadn't, you will wish you didn't know. It will turn you upside down and inside out. Do you really want that so much!"

"I will do anything for you Nefret." He was begging and Nefret's shoulders slumped. "Anything you want… To get away from that man… I'll help you escape."

Nefret chuckled and looked out the widow into the dark drizzling night. "I don't want to get away, Al. More than that I can't. And If I told you the truth you'd know why."

"Then anything else you want, Nefret. As one legend to another." Aladdin grabbed her hand and she pulled away slowly.

"Don't call me that. Then just don't tell Mozenrath I did this. Don't mention you ever saw this or he will try to kill me, not that it would matter much." She removed a book from her purse. Al thumbed through it, looked at the graphs, strange drawings and confusing glyphs. "Don't read it here. Go home Aladdin." Nefret was up and gone before he could say anything, leaving a few crumpled dollars on the table for the coffee.


	4. Ring

Al rubbed his head and chugged more soda. The book was a confusing and twisted journey into an even more confusing and twisted mind. Understanding the meaning was like shooting a bird in the dark. He sighed and looked up at the Dreadful Child poster he had pinned up on the wall. Round the edges were washed out pictures from a photo shoot for the band. On one corner Mozenrath gripped Nefret, his head ducked to her neck. On another he was wearing a mask; the imagery went on and on.

With a grumble Al turned back to book, then his head shot back to the poster. "No…. is that it?" Something inside seemed to shatter as he ran out the door.

Back at Mozenrath's apartment, Nefret had just made it look like she had never left and settled back down with Mozenrath.

"Hi sweetie." He whispered and turned over to her. "Where did you go? I missed you." His breath reeked of alcohol.

"Nowhere. I just went to get a shower."

"Your hair isn't wet." His voice got deeper with suspicion and anger.

Nefret put a hand to his cheek. "Please Moze, don't do this again. Remember?"

His eyes closed painfully. "I'm sorry. I know I promised. I'm sorry. Even if I have to go against the world, the cosmos, even God, I'll try to change for you." He leaned and kissed her, brushing back her hair, a far softer touch than he'd given her earlier. "I love you." Nefret reveled in words and melted into him, he was kissing down her neck and…

Just then the door was banged with such intensity it nearly fell in. "Let me in Mozenrath, I know you're there! I need to talk to you!" Was the frantic yell from outside.

"God damn it!" Mozenrath leapt from the bed and threw open the door. Aladdin was on the other side, his cloths dishevel, hair messed, and eyes bloodshot.

"Tell me who I am."

After they had gotten him to sit down and take a few breaths and a drink Mozenrath pulled up a chair and made himself comfortable. "Now Al, tell me what all this is about, or is this just that you can't handle your liquor? I know an excellent program…." He trailed off as Al pull out the book and slapped it on the table. "How did you?" Moze flew to his feet.

"Tell me who I am!" Aladdin gripped the arm rests.

With a look at Nefret, Moze resumed his seat. "I see. I really wish you hadn't seen that. Kind of turns your world upside down doesn't it? That's often what it's like when you open your eyes."

"I'm not Aladdin?" Al was either making a statement or asking a question, it was unsure which.

"You are Aladdin." Moze assured.

"You are not Mozenrath?" Aladdin tried again.

"I am Mozenrath."

"No, no your not! Not at all! I feel you're so much more. Now I'm starting to feel the same way about myself. I feel like I'm more than I think I am. Much more."

"I should have known. You didn't understand the book did you?" He picked it up. "No, of course not. It's very complicated and well written, if I do say so myself."

Al looked at the book with amazement. "You wrote it?"

"Yes I did. So I shouldn't expect you to understand it. It would take someone of very high intelligence to grasp the full meaning." With a loving hand he placed the book back in the locked chest and put the key in his pocket. "It's not meant to be read by just anyone."

Aladdin sputtered for a moment, trying to find words. "Please explain it to me." He finally asked, feeling a bit simple.

"Me Mozenrath, you Aladdin." Moze laughed at his own joke.

"Just tell him the truth, he what's it badly." Nefret stepped into the light.

"Shut up you Pandora! You Delia! Viper!" Moze yelled at her, his back hand flying into the air. She pouted and slipped into a chair.

"I am Mozenrath." He stood and seemed to take a moment to find the words. "I am also Dracula, I am the Beast Prince, I am the Phantom of the Opera, I am Hades" As he said each name his appearance seemed to change and morph silently.

"I don't… I don't under…" Al's voice faded off.

"And Nefret here, she is Mina, Bell, Christine, Persephone" Al watched as she changed, finally melting into her normal color.

"Who am I?" He whispered.

"You Aladdin are the underdog. David, Robin Hood. Go ahead Al, say you're David." Moze challenged.

"I…. I'm…. David." Al stammered, he watched as his hand turned darker and younger, quickly changing back as the as the appearance fell away like powder.

"Good. You got it now." Mozenrath smile fell as he saw the confused look on Aladdin's face. "No you don't have it now do you?" He sighed. "Okay look. I am the essence of the dark hero, the dark lover. The one that is inherently born ominous, but is so beautiful. I am any dark hero or lover you have ever heard of before or in the future. I can become any of them at anytime."

"I am the essence of the flower smashed under the wheel. I am the enslaved maiden, the innocent tempted by the darkness, the girl hidden from the light." Nefret explained. "Mozenrath's and my archetypes are always directly linked. That is why we will always be together." She smiled a little as Mozenrath approached her and smoothed her cheek. He seemed to mouth her an apology and she smiled and kissed his palm.

"Good way of putting it Nefret. It was a mistake that we were named legends. It's more like Archetypes. I think that is what I'll name my book!" He turned to Aladdin again, remember he was there. "You see Aladdin, we are not the Legends. Those people, if they ever lived at all died because they were mortal. But they fit the archetypes that humans have set up. Those archetypes are now so strong and put in the global mind that we have even become corporeal, we are incarnated, and we have become flesh. Your soul, the things that powers you, drives you, is a human concept. A better way of putting it is, your ARE the concept."

"I'm not Aladdin?" He was almost in tears.

"In a way. You are the essence of Aladdin, you are the essence of any underdog. The underdog is one of humanities most beloved archetypes! You should feel lucky!"

"But I have his memories! I have lived his life, I know nothing about David or any other underdog, they can't be me because I'm completely Aladdin!" His voice rose to anger.

"It's all in the mask we choose to put on. The problem with being an archetype is that you aren't really real. You have no soul. You were created by the creations of God. So you have a very far connection with him. It is cosmically unlikely that you will ever die and even if your archetype is no longer recognized by humanity, you can't go to heaven, you simply disappear." Mozenrath watched as Aladdin's face became twisted with unbelievable grief. "I know it hurts. That is why most archetypes choose one singular mask to put on and purposely forgot what they were. I think I am the first one so far to recognize the truth. To reclaim all my power again. I wrote it all down, but it is just too dangerous and painful to tell every one of us yet." He saw that Aladdin was drained. For the first time, he felt a smidgen of pity for the eternal hero. He put a hand on his shoulder. "Go home Al, think it over for a while. I will call you soon."

Mozenrath closed the door after Aladdin and turned back to the living room. Nefret was gone. The window near the fire escape was open and the curtains were fluttering. He sighed and ran to the street. Just a ways away there was a pretty blond woman with pink cheeks and a beauty mark on her cheek walking quickly down the street. He chuckled a little and ran after her.

"Don't you know I know all your masks by now?" He put his arm around her and pulled her close against the cold.

"Moze, I didn't mean to give him the book, well I did bring it with me. He just sounded so distressed! I wanted to help him, it's in my archetype. Please, don't hurt me, as is in your archetype."

Mozenrath took a deep breath and suppressed his instinct to back hand her. It was harder for an archetype to change their behavior, tens of times more difficult than for humans. They were the embodiments of what they were, created by humans and therefore flawed. It was, in part, those flaws that made it possible for Mozenrath to change, however. In becoming corporeal, in being given flesh and life, he had ultimately been given some semblance of free will. He pulled her in for a kiss, there in the rain. "What's done is done. And you were driven to do it. I can't blame you." He whispered to her.

Nefret gave a relieved sigh. "Now what do we do?"

"Hell if I know. Most of it is up to Aladdin to figure now. One thing I'm not comfortable with is he is now firmly linked to us. No escaping his company now, and who knows for how long!" Moze began leading her back under the eave of the apparent building.

"That's no so bad. I've always said we needed some friends, and Al is a nice guy." Nefret wiped the rain from his lips.

He grabbed her hand. "He's only nice because it's his archetype Nefret, don't be fooled. And that's exactly the problem. Our archetypes are tied together. He's a hero, I'm a villain and you're a maiden in distress. Do I have to get out the folk tale book for you?" he hissed at her.

Nefret shook her head and did some preliminary damage control. "Well this is one maiden who doesn't want to be rescued. Come on dark man, come threaten my virtue." And with that she led his grinning face into the darkness of the hall.


	5. Masks

Mozenrath looked over at the sleeping form of Nefret, sprawled out on the bed, rope still hanging from the bed posts. He smiled slightly and pulled the covers over her before he left.

In the kitchen he debated between a beer and orange juice. In the end his worse instincts won out and he popped open the beer can tab. True, he drank way too much by human standers, but it wasn't like he could ever die of a diseased liver. He wasn't even sure he had one, no one had ever cut open an archetype to find out. He was, however, very susceptible to all the vice and addictions humanity had to offer. Too bad, he had a brilliant mind that most times he tried to drown just to get some peace.

But on this night Corona extra would not keep him from his worries. He'd come so far without ever meeting a hero archetype. Even if they never went to that end, it was their nature that they be enemies, that they fight, that the hero try to rescue to maid in distress and that that maiden fall hopelessly in love with the hero. It was the way it worked, it was set in stone, or more appropriately in the pages of thousands of fairy tales around the world. And Mozenrath promised he would find a way to kill Aladdin before that happened. And that feeling did not come strictly from his archetype, he had fallen in love with Nefret. There was a section in his book debating if "Legends" possessed human emotions since they were created by humans. It was she that had provided the answer.

And there was something else. It was in Aladdin's archetype that he and his princess were destined to live "happily ever after." At least in his theory, which was all it could currently be considered. How could he explain that? Mozenrath's head hit the table, he couldn't explain that right now. All his research, all his study, all his theory and practice seem to be on the edge of failing yet again. He growled and dug his black painted nails into the table.

Just then the door swung open and a tired looking demon swaggered in, with a tired looking smile. "Hey." She said and joined him in a beer. "Miss me?"

Was it the weekend already? He guessed it was since he'd played a set that night. Or was it morning now? "Yes." Mozenrath said simply and gulped down the last of his beer.

Chroias looked around at the apartment, through the open bedroom door she could see Nefret asleep on the bed, tell tale black silk cords still loosely wound around the ankle sticking out under the covers. "You were in a possessive mood." She commented with a sigh. "Someone look up Nefret's dress on stage again?" She smiled knowingly. If it wasn't for the mounting bail fee's Mozenrath would still be decking anyone who even looked twice at the girl.

"Worse." Mozenrath looked into Chroias's eyes. "I've met the man currently called Aladdin."

"Oh dear." Roi groaned and slammed her head into the table. It should be used to it by now.

The leather pants were constricting and he kept accidentally driving his spiked bracelets into this legs, but Aladdin had to admit that he looked good as a goth, as far as goths went. Now when he stood in line the little gothic lolitas gave him shy pretty looks, and the man with blue spiked hair grinned and shot him a nod, as if he was suddenly part of some underground movement he was currently unaware of.

The club was smoky and full of disorienting lights garaging and vibrating through the otherwise dark room. When he could finally move without feeling ill he began to pick his way through the crowd to the bar. The bar tender was had pink hair, enough metal in her ears to make a European car, and the face of an angel. She smiled at him and nodded. "What's your poison?"

"Er…" Al looked up at the wall at all the drinks they offered, not one looked familure or appetizing. From 'bleeding to death Mary,' to 'sex and violence on the beach' "I'll just have a beer." He sighed. She gave him a pout but poured it.

With a thankful look he grabbed the drink off the bar and downed it. She looked impressed. "Haven't' seen you here before. What's your name?" She screamed at him over the throbbing melodies of and gut wrenching rifts of the band on stage.

"Al." Aladdin screamed back. "Hey I heard that Dreadful Child was playing tonight." He jutted a thumb to the stage.

"Oh yeah, they will be. That's just the warm up band." She leaned in closed and looked him over. "You don't exactly look like a Dreadful Child fan…." She smiled one sidedly as he looked over the people in the club, full of men in trench coats, vampires, and overly innocent girls. He wished he hadn't listened to the man in the mall. "Stud's are in my ass." Aladdin groaned. He turned back to her and her very confused face. "Well… I kinda know the band."

"Aw really?" She grinned and gave him a strange hand sign. "Fan-fucking-tastic! Maybe you should see if you could see them back stage latter. If you do, why don't you take me along, big boy?" She smiled and stroked his chin. Aladdin gave a weary smile, nodded in a noncommittal way and slipped into the surging crowd.

He made it to the first few rows just as the warm up band was packing up their things. As the announcer came up the crowed hushed, only to become rowdy again when the next band was announced. They yelled and pounded the stage until a diminutive figure emerged from stage left and walked calmly to center stage.

And as the lights flipped upside-down and around Nefret was caught in their shine. Aladdin blanched at her costume, which he'd only caught a glimpse of the first time. It was black, and frilly with puff cap sleeves and a little apron. Affixed to her head was a petite bonnet cocked just to the side. The whole thing itself could not be considered fetish wear but for the fact that the bell skirt did not cover much past her hips, and under the mass of white lacy petticoats one could catch a glimpse of red panties with each move she made. Knee high stockings and huge heeled Mary Jane's completed the ensemble.

The crowed hushed as her voice range out, it was sweet but powerful as it reverberated from the speakers. The lyrics and melody built until at a breaking point. That was when another figure appeared on stage, dark and trenched coated. It advanced on the lolita with heavy footsteps. Mozenrath stepped into the spot light. Aladdin was struck with the dark clarity of his voice. It was beautiful its own way. The crowd went wild at the act they played out each night on the stages of local clubs. It was the gimmick that was earning them so much fame. He would come out there, grip Nefret dangerously, and rip off her top so that through the rest of the set of dark looming love songs she preformed in a lacy bra, apron, and short little frilly dress. Exploitive, but effective.

The rest of the performance wasn't really to Aladdin's taste. Dark gloomy music with gothic romance threaded through the lyrics bouncing jarringly off a wall of heavy beat and guitar. But he managed to make it the through the half hour. At that point Mozenrath waved to the crowd, kissed Nefret on the cheek and ran back stage. Nefret stayed a little longer waving and accepting roses, on old fashion compliment but still appreciated, before grabbing the guitarist (who as it turned out was Chroias under all that make-up) and left the stage. House music from the pa system then took over and the black clad crowd began to dance around here and there.

Aladdin squeezed his way in the tight spaces to the back stage door, he was glad to see the bar tender was not waiting there for him.

"Hold it buddy." A sudden deep voice stopped him. It was the bouncer, and unlike most of the lanky pale goth boys in the club, he was big and every way imaginable.

"Hey, it's okay. I know the band." And he thought that would be enough, but the bouncer's big brawny arm slammed into this chest as he tried to walk by.

"Stay here." The man threatened him with his finger and then disappeared into the door way. He returned a few moments later and motioned with his head for Al to go in.

The dressing room had deep violet wall and black carpet that probably hid a multiple of sins. The room was throbbing with the band members, management, fans, friends and just plain partiers, but he could make out Mozenrath on the leather couch, he had already made a sizable dent in a six pack. The girls were cuddled on the same couch in a suspicious position when they saw him.

"Hey Al!" Moze called out to him, knowing the familure name drove him crazy. "So what did you think?"

"I think you have an effective gimmick." He made no apologies about looking over Nefret in her stage costume.

Mozenrath caught the look and whispered into Nefret's ear. She seemed angry, but grabbed Chroias hand and disappeared into an adjacent room, out of sight. When they had gone the pale man turned to the Asian. "I was hoping you'd wait to call on me until I was at home." He looked around at his party which was giving the new comer unwelcoming looks. But hey, he was with the boss so he had to be cool, despite all appearances.

Aladdin took a seat opposite him "Yes well, I needed to get out."

"That's what I've said all along." Mozenrath relented and laughed. He stood and called over the man Aladdin had seen beating out a steady rhythm on the drums earlier. "I'm checking out early man; make sure my girls get home safely." And with that he led Al to his little black sports car.

"Does everything you have need to be black?" Aladdin joked as he slid into the passenger seat.

Mozenrath shrugged and got behind the wheel. "I like to stick to a theme." The irony was lost on the other man; he had supposed it would be. "I'm actually glad to see you. I wanted to ask you a few things." He waited a moment but Aladdin didn't reply, so he went ahead. "What happened to you?" He huffed and shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "You and your princess…"

Aladdin gave a pained look, but he'd received so much information from Mozenrath it was only right to give some back. "I guess you could say I fell."

"Fell…" Mozenrath repeated, no so much a question as he was mulling the word around in his head.

"Things were great for a while. I excelled at whatever I did even when it was bigger than I was. I fell every opponent in my path. I worked hard and got everything I wanted. But I was always so sure to give every piece of wealth I had back. I was compelled to be so generous, so… charitable. That was really my downfall. I became weak, I was a push over, I saved nothing for myself and in the end gave it all to everyone else, leaving nothing for her. She was a strong independent woman of power, a princess. And I could never stop being a hero long enough to give her a prince. I was a shell of what I once was, and when there was no one else to save I had no other purpose. I guess you could say I went through a bad time. And when I reached the end of that time she was no longer with me." Aladdin ended his long narrative softly, staring out at the passing city lights.

Mozenrath nodded and after a moment. "All hero's eventually fall. I should have guessed that part. My theory still stands." He smiled.

Aladdin's face went red. "Is that all my life story is to you? Just fader for your book? Are you studying me? Are you going to home and write notes on my psychosis?"

Mozenrath growled. "Like it or not, Al, yes. We're not going to be great friends. But I at least thought we could help each other understand this all." He looked to the side and turned the corner. They were silent for a moment but then he spoke again. "One thing I do ask is that you keep away from Nefret."

"Why? She's the only one who I see trying to truly help me." Aladdin scoffed.

"Not because she wants to. It's in her Nature. She's compelled to help you by her Archetype. That's why she made me turn the car around, that's why she met you at that dinner at 3 am, that's why she brought the book. Unconsciously she's setting herself up to be rescued by you. She may not even realize it, but that's exactly what her archetype is putting into play."

Aladdin suddenly remember how he'd asked if he could rescue her that night in the dinner. He was not sure why he had offered other than it seemed natural. "I've already offered and she said no. If that makes you feel any better."

A small smile crept over his lips, but he suppressed it. "It doesn't matter. It's all in our archetypes, you'll fall in love with her, she with you, and you'll try to rescue her from the villain, i.e. me. I'll fight back, try to keep her, but will inevitably loose."

Aladdin moaned in disgust. "You're paranoid! I don't want Nefret, I want my princess, she's the only one for me."

"She was the only one for Aladdin. You're still very attached to her because you still cling to your mask of Aladdin. But soon you will realize other masks, masks that match up with those masks Nefret's carries within her. Maybe something like Robin Hood and Maid Marin, and I'll play the role of Prince John. Won't that be very poetic? That's why I want you to stay as far from her as you can. I don't want you discovering new and interesting roles to play with her."

Aladdin rubbed his temples. The man could sometimes talk circles around him, dive so deep into subconscious that it would take him hours of thought to decipher what the man meant. Until then he wanted to move onto another subject. "What about Chroias? You haven't explained her yet. What is she?"

Mozenrath grinned, rather proud of his cleverness. "Roi is a little more difficult to explain."

"Great, more difficult than an archetype." Al sighed.

"Roi is what you'd call an abstract." He went on, ignoring the man's sarcasm. "She could be described as an archetype, since she takes up the role of the powerful woman in control, a woman outside of acceptable society. In short a bad girl. But… As far as I can tell she is a being of divine origin. Divine as in she did not come from human consciousness. She is one of the very few astral archetypes, roles created by the very workings of the cosmos themselves. If you want to call that God, it's fine. I'm still working on that part of my book, but I've identified a few astral archetypes, the dark temptress, like Chroias, which I call The Lilith. The Saint, The Lamb, The Beast, The Angel, and even to a certain extent, God." He stopped so that Aladdin could soak up this latest piece of information.

The hero set his head in his hands. "Coffee, Please."


	6. Promises and Spike

And once they were sitting in the all night dinner, at table 3, with one cup of coffee drunk, and one standing by, Aladdin was able to talk again. "Isn't it in your archetype that you loose the damsel in distress?"

Mozenrath sighed in disgust. "I've already been over this with you! Why do you think I warned you to stay away from Nefret? So far none of the archetypes I've come across have been heroes. So I've never had to deal with someone trying to rescue her. But…" He regretted adding that immediately.

Aladdin didn't let the statement go. "Come on, if you get to analyze my life I get to analyze yours. Answers may be found."

Mozenrath nodded. It was all for his book. "The cycle is always carried out, whether we try and stop it or not. I never meant to be… but I was abusive with Nefret. It was in my Nature. I loved her, but I couldn't help myself. She ran away." He looked away, not wanting Aladdin to see the pain replaying in his eyes. "She was gone for… years. I searched the far corners of the world, intending to beat her and chain her back to me. But when I found her, hiding in Nazi Germany in one of her masks, I promised to try and change." He laughed softly. "Can you believe that, an archetype trying to change? I loved her that much. We belong together, no matter what the 'rules' say."

Aladdin stored that little fact away for later. If Mozenrath had done it, found his lost love, perhaps he could follow a similar fashion with his princess. "So I understand why Nefret is with you, your archetypes are 'glued' together. But why is Chroias with you?"

"Would you believe my boyish good looks?" He cocked an eyebrow above his darkly painted eyes. Aladdin scoffed. "Okay, Okay, geez hitting below the belt, not like you. Chroias is with me out of choice. As an astral archetype she has more freedom than we do because astral archetypes are more loosely defined. Humans tend to think so one sided, so 'this is the way it has to be.' I hate that. She likes me. A dark temptress and a dark lover it's natural." He paused. "And in a very certain way she's attracted to Nefret's archetype as well." He grinned and gave a suggestive look.

Aladdin blushed a little but kept his control. "Really?"

Mozenrath chuckled. "Neffie is just made to be corrupted. You've perhaps noticed that theme."

Aladdin frowned. "It's very sad."

Moze shrugged. "Not for us."

And it was then that he made his decision.

Chroias waved goodbye to the drummer as he speed away into the night. The after party had been great, full of fans and booze. They fell into the apartment together, laughing and clinging onto each other for support. Chroias swung Nefret into the nearest comfortable receptacle and managed to make it into the bathroom. She returned later and presented Nefret with two Advil and a Dixie cup of water.

"Here, or you'll have a head ache." She smiled as the other woman accepted them. Chroias face changed as she looked down at her friend. She smiled and brushed the girl's hair back. "You looked beautiful tonight."

Nefret caught her hand and pulled her down to crash onto the couch. Roi got comfortable and allowed Nefret to put her head on her knees. It was not long after that the sound of a key in the door made the girls look up.

Mozenrath looked up as he closed the door. "Ah, good, you guys got home okay. Sorry about leavening the party so early, but Aladdin was not exactly fitting in."

"Plus you didn't like the way he was looking at Nefret." Roi commented, not letting him forget that part. Mozenrath shot her a deadly look and held it there.

Nefret, feeling the tension, laughed it away. "I'm sure he was looking at you to Roi. Don't feel bad."

"Nah," the unearthly pale woman laughed. "Those hero types never look at me like that."

"I'm going to bed." Mozenrath grumbled and shuffled away to the bedrooms. This was not like him. Especially since he had both of them together, he was not tired from partying all night, and they were both in a reasonably good mood.

"I better go make sure he's okay. Come with me?" Chroias rose and looked down at Nefret.

"No. Go on ahead. I'll be in later." She assured and the other woman disappeared into the bedroom and closed the door.

Nefret tinkered quietly around the apartment for a while, reading a magazine article, drinking some orange juice, plucking her eyebrows, petting the cat, when all the sudden her cell phone went off. She rushed to grab it before the noise could disturb the other two, plus her teeny bopper ring tone annoyed the living shit out of Mozenrath.

The text message was short but clear. "Meet me at the high school parking lot." Nefret bit her lip, but in the end grabbed the keys and slid out the door.

The parking lot was empty when she pulled the expensive sports car into it. She was not sure why she had come, other than she was an extremely curious person. She was pretty sure who sent the message but still could not be sure. No one knew she was gone or where she was. A wave of relief washed over her as Aladdin's little car chugged into the lot.

They greeted each other with a semi-handshake/hug and he led her into the building using his teacher's access key. It felt strange to be in a school after dark. Her only real experience with schools had been through movies and TV. She could not remember when she had come into existence yet, not like Mozenrath had managed. But by her first memory, she was completely learned. Mozenrath had told her that she was born with the possibilities of knowing everything any human knew because they were born from the human unconscious mind, but he never proved the statement.

"The kitchen is all locked up but maybe I can get you something from the snack machine…" He trailed off as they entered the cafeteria.

"We really have to stop meeting like this Aladdin. I feel odd sneaking past Mozenrath's sleeping body at night to come meet another man." Nefret joked. "All of the trouble and none of the fun."

Aladdin grinned at her humor and picked out a sugary candy bar. It fell into the drop box with a thunderous echo. "Yeah, he's worried about that too, apparently. But what I really asked you here for was to talk about the time you ran away."

Nefret froze. Mozenrath and she had promised never to talk about that time. Had he broken the silence and talked with Aladdin. He must have, but for some unfathomable reason. "Why are you interested in that?

"Well don't you think it's awfully close to my situation? You never though to mention it to me, Nefret? I thought you were tying to help me." He couldn't help the hurt in his voice.

"Please understand, Aladdin, I don't talk about that time. It was a very bad time…." She took a seat and opened the Twix bar he had bought her.

"How long were you gone?" Al looked at her curiously

"Fifty seven years." Nefret sighed. She caught the surprise in Aladdin's face. "There was so much bad blood between us. I was at a breaking point. One night… I told him no. But he got angry and took me anyways. He wasn't… ruthless… but it was the way he held me down… I left in the middle of the night. Took some money from the wall safe and took the midnight train. We were living in the U.K. at the time and my money took me all the way to Germany. I got a job there as a seamstress under the mask of Bell. It was a miserable time for me. Being away from Mozenrath I… I really had no purpose as an archetype, and I didn't make a complete human either. I even once sent a letter to our home in the U.K. but I got it back under 'addressee no longer lives here.'" She laughed ruefully and continued. "Then the Nazi's started their campaign and my brown hair and eyes drew some attention. My life only got worse, and that's when a dark stranger turned up at my dress shop. I knew it was him instantly!..." She broke off and blushed.

"Has he really changed?" Aladdin ventured.

"He has, a lot, but there is much to go. He is caught every day in his struggle to battle his Nature and his… heart. He's trying and I love him for that. He drinks a lot, but he's under so much stress, trying to unlock the mysteries of the universe and all."

Aladdin thought for a moment. Nefret had described him almost perfectly, without his princess, without his role of hero he had felt incomplete. He had taken up a menial jobs, and found no satisfaction. His life was dull and gray, he floated by in life and yet not lived. Maybe his princess felt the same… She might be as miserable as Nefret was when she left… as miserable as he was. She might even be looking for him as he was her. His heart wrenched at that. Nefret must have seen the thoughts through his pained eyes, she reached out and touched his hand comfortingly. Aladdin cupped her hand and looked up. He suddenly found himself in her eyes and she in his. "Neffie… let me help…"

Nefret sat up suddenly. "Your kind of help is something I don't need." She turned before she left. "Don't ask me to meet you again, Al, in the middle of the night."

And she drove home somberly and crawled in bed between Chroias and Mozenrath, feeling guilty for some uncommitted act.


	7. Craving

The little Egyptian masked archetype fell into a fitful rest there, held in the sleeping arms of Mozenrath and Chroias. Her dreams were composites of memories and stories she had been told.

_The century was getting late and before another decade went by they would be in the 20th century. The day had gone much as it had the day before. Mozenrath had returned from the university where he taught some arcane class only taken by the most dedicated or insane students. He was in his usual bad mood. Currently, he was using his class as guinea pigs to test the theories of his new book. The would hold seemingly casual talk groups about what his students believed to be the fundamental archetypes humanity had made itself world wide. That day a student had come up with some questions that had so perplexed Mozenrath his entire theory felt to be on shaky ground. Chroias and Nefret had been sitting in the kitchen when they heard him coming._

"_Oh dear, sounds like a bad day." She sighed and immediately got out a bottle of spirits. "This should make his day better."_

"_Yes, and mine worse!" Nefret had hissed. Chroias smiled and assured her that she would protect Nefret if the booze failed to make Mozenrath giddy, and instead took him down another road. They were living in a relatively lovely little Victorian home. Chroias wore a different mask at that time, a beauty. Mozenrath saw no reason to change his appearance just because he was in a restricted society. And indeed his Persian face only seemed to distinguish him at the university. He was refered to much of the time as a foreign guest speaker even though he'd lived and taught in England for almost 12 years. Being the times they were he could not claim both women as his wives, as he was able to do in times past and times in the future. Nefret, instead, had to take up the role of live in house keeper. Her little crisp black dress with white lace trimmed sometimes only infuriated Mozenrath's male senses, especially when he was drunk. Anyone who had caught onto the strange situation in the house had taken it just as another frittering husband taking it up with the maid. It was never made a public outrage, as that was not done in those days of polite society. Instead it was whispered about in the parlor rooms of fellow professors and friends. _

_Much of the evening was spent listening to Mozenrath as he ranted and raved about his book, his theory, how he could throttle that student, and so on and so on, and watching him down glass after glass of the dark liquor. _

_It had been Nefret who had lost her anger first, if you wanted to be true about it, as dreams usually are. She had gotten up from the divan and told him to shut his mouth. "I'm tried of all of this! This book you're trying to write! This truth you're always talking about! I don't care about finding the truth. Why are you? It will only hurt! It will only change everything! Cant we just live and be thankful for living?" She had stomped her foot and then turned and left. _

_Mozenrath would have gone after her, but Chroias caught him. _

_The evening passed into night, and Nefret was left alone in her room, much to her surprise. It was not until late in the night, when Chroias had gone to sleep, that Mozenrath opened the door of her bedroom. _

"_Neffie. Why are you so against my life's work? It means so much to me; can't you just love it as much as I do?" He had sighed, tinkering with the lace collar of her maids outfit that hung over a chair._

_Nefret shifted her nightgown around her legs. "I don't want you love that book. I want you to love me."_

_Mozenrath grinned evilly, he reeked of alcohol, and must had been up the last few hours drinking. "I do love you. Put on this maid outfit and I'll show you how much." He launched the black fabric at her. But Nefret caught it and threw it to the floor._

"_No, Mozenrath. No more of that. I won't lay with you until you give up this stupid obsession of yours!" She crossed her arms and gave him a deadly serious look._

_His eyes bugged a little. "You dare to ask something like that? You're asking me to give up my life's work?" He rushed her. "Don't threaten to take your love from me! It belongs to me!" And in a moment he'd ripped the delicate little cotton floor length night gown from her form. They were both pushed to the bed and before she could move he had both her wrists in his big hands and was holding her down. And even before either of them realized his hips had jerked he was inside of her. It was too sudden and she was not ready. _

_Nefret cried out in ripping pain. Mozenrath froze, and very slowly his eyes grew wide with disbelief as he looked down at her. He couldn't believe that even with his Archetype and his Nature, he'd allowed himself to do such a thing. Not to Nefret. As quickly as he'd been on top of her he was all the way across the room, looking at the bed in horror. His mouth moved silently in gasps and small words. And then he turned so she could not see the pain in his eyes and left. _

_It was in instantaneous decision that caused her to pull the suit case from under the bed. She packed all she could carry, slipped down stairs and filled her pockets from the wall safe. And before the street lights were extinguished as dawn rose she was marching down the street to the train station…_

Nef woke early that morning with Mozenrath's arms tightly around her, practically a death grip. She must have struggled in her bad dream. He never held her like that unless she struggled. The bed was mysteriously empty of another female body. She looked around for Roi and only found a note lying on the bedside table. She reached, wriggling out of his grasp the few inches she needed very carefully. The note read that Roi had gone out for breakfast and not much else. Nefret grabbed the pen and added a little p.s. before carefully unlocking herself from Mozenrath's grasp and jumping into a pair of jeans and a T.


	8. Hold

She walked; the car starting was to loud this time of morning. She had a sneaking suspicion. Roi never went out for breakfast, she was not a morning person, and hated all morning foods. The night before she had refused to meet Aladdin anymore, but the eagerness in his eyes had not dissipated. The man would not rest until he knew everything, from one person or another.

Sure enough, through the neon signs glowing their anger into the half dark hour she could see the two sipping coffee at a booth of the old all night dinner. The waitress looked up as she entered. "Hello dear. Been seeing you here a lot. Coffee?"

"Tell me about it." Nefret scoffed as she passed the woman by. "Black." Nefret slid in the seat beside the two before they even realized she'd walked in. They jumped a little, as if they'd been caught in some horrible crime. "Why Aladdin, I feel like you're cheating on me." She gave a weary laugh as the coffee arrived.

"I'm sorry. I know I was asking a lot of you, meeting me all the time. I thought I'd ask Chroias." He looked at the demonic archetype, still a little wearily.

Roi sighed and combed her nails though her hair. "But I just don't know how I can help you. By now you probably know as much as I do. And I can't help you find your princess." She added.

Al gave a sudden look at Nefret. "But she can." He watched the surprised look on the girls faces. "Nefret, you did the exact same thing as she did! You can help me get into her mind, help me figure where she might have gone, what she must be feeling."

Staring down into her coffee, Nef shook her head. "I don't think I can help. I mean I didn't have a method to my madness when I ran away. I just ran. I have no idea where she might have ended up."

"Please, Neffie, I have to get her back." Al's eyes were pleading.

Chroias grasped Nefret's hand suddenly, protectively. "She can't help you Al! And why are you so desperate to have her back anyways? Is it because you really love her, or because you need her to feel complete?"

"Is there really all that much of a difference?" He huffed.

"Yes." Nefret said somberly. When she had run away Mozenrath had firstly come after me for revenge, and secondly because Chroias had threatened to leave him as well if he didn't right his wrong. It was only very late in his search, or perhaps even when he finally laid eyes on me again that he could admit his deep love and regret. He had ASKED me to come back. That made all the difference in the end.

Aladdin thought for a moment. "I loved her back then, what she was back then. She might have changed, who knows, Mozenrath did. But I need to find her and see if we still have that love. If not…" He broke off, staring off into the dark depth of his coffee cup. The girls were instantly taken in by his sensitive Nature. "Nefret, I'll ask you… come with me. Just for a while. Just travel with me for a few months and we'll see if we can find her. At any time I'll let you go home, I promise."

Tears rolled down Roi's face when she returned. Unusual for her. She handed Nefret the suitcase she'd packed.

"Mozenrath was still asleep when I left. I didn't have the heart to wake him… to tell him." Chroias explained.

Nefret nodded and took the luggage. "I wrote him a letter." She handed over the tear stained paper. "Tell him… tell him I love him and I'll miss him." They both sniffed as Roi folded the paper and shoved it in her pocket. "I'm going to miss you too Roi!" Nefret fell against the other woman.

Aladdin cleared his throat and looked away as the girls exchanged a strangely intimate kiss. They had an ambiguous sort of relationship, and when he asked Nefret she had given the equally ambiguous answer that they 'loved' each other. "We need to get going." Aladdin reminded, looking down at his watch. "The plane leaves for China in two hours." He'd called the airline and spent a good sum of his bank account on the tickets. He figured it was the most logical place to start looking. It was a strong assumption that his princess had not figured out the archetype and still believed herself to be a Legend. She would remain in that mask and believe China was her country of origin. Home.

The girls kissed away each other's tears before Aladdin took Nefret's arm and helped her into his little car. "I'll be home soon! I promise!" Nefret yelled out the window as the car sped away.

She must have stood for a solid ten minuets on the curb, waving goodbye to the car even after it was completely out of sight. Finally Chroias shoved her hands in her pockets and turned, patted down the sidewalk, not even bothering to look up. Even as an astral archetype she felt so helpless. This god damn cycle. This fairy tale from hell. Around and around they went, passion, abuse, running, coming back with passion, abuse running. It went on and on. And Mozenrath went through his cycle of redemption and falling again over and over. And she well… she just kept struggling to change it all. But she had a sinking feeling that it could never be changed. Wet tears rolled down her cheeks. Worst of all their archetypes always revolved around love and loss. It was their fate. Stupid humanity. Where was their happy ending? Good always wins over evil, even when evil deserves it more.

When she arrived back at the apartment she found it to reek of booze. Instantly she was edge, that was until she saw the empty bottles lined up like dead soldiers on the kitchen counter. Chroias stood over the sink, the alcohol fumes nearly visible as they wafted from the drain…. "He poured out the liquor cabinet."

Mozenrath was eventually found sitting at the couch, curtains drawn and head in hands. "She left with him didn't she?" His voice was cracked in a million places.

Roi collapsed in front of him and took his hands. "Not for the reason you think. She's gone with him to try and find Aladdin's princess." That did not comfort him. Mozenrath's shoulders were quaking.

"That doesn't' matter. She finally has her hero. She's rescued. She's… done." Moze growled in disgust.

"Even if that were true the cycle will start over again. She'll need to be kidnapped." Chroias took out the book and tried to look up the chapter.

Mozenrath grabbed the volume and threw it in the corner. "And who knows how long till the cycle resets! And who knows if I'll even find her before another villain archetype does. One worse than me, the Tormentor, or the Murderer!"

"She promised to be back in a few months." Roi soothed, but she was crying again, not very convincing.

"That may be what she wants, but it's not in her control anymore. The archetype is calling the shots now." He rubbed his face and got up to find his book. "I've got to find a way to stop the cycle Roi."

"Moze you cant be serious! We don't know what happens when the cycle is broken much less stopped!" She yelled. "Nothing could happen, or humanity could be destroyed."

"That's a chance I'm willing to take!" He yelled back before locking himself in his study.


	9. Adrift

This place was way too bright, and everything smelled clean, too clean. Mozenrath blinked several times but couldn't make out anything of comfort to tell him where he was. Voices, strange and ethereal were filtering in through his ears. He strained to make them out but they were fuzzy. Then he suddenly recognized the theme song to Jeopardy.

"What the hell?" He moaned and sat up, forcing his eyes open. A game show was playing itself out on the little TV stuck precariously on a wall mount. In front of him there sat a bowl of neon green Jell-O.

"Oh, Good. You're awake!" Chroias leaned into his field of view and smiled. "Hello sleepy head."

He groaned, half annoyed and half thankful. "Hello." He mouthed back. "I made it."

"Yeah, all in once piece." She confirmed. "I should know, I checked." And she winked in a way that assured him there were no major problems. "Your little experiment was successful professor."

"I'd hardly call it a 'little experiment' I could have been killed. We all could have been. But no harm no foul." Mozenrath shifted uncomfortable when he realized he was wearing one of those little gowns that tied in the back. "I had not thought about being in the hospital though. Did they find anything… strange?"

"Nah. Didn't even cut into you. You were just admitted for observation. You were knocked out cold, but your vitals were off the charts even though it had no cause! One of the nurses from the maternity ward said your heart beat looked just like those of a baby being born."

"Imagine that." Mozenrath laughed and shoved the Jell-O far away.

"Yeah, but other than that they said you'd be fine when you woke up. A real medical mystery. I found an old friend high up in the doctor chain." She motioned for the man behind the curtain to come forward. He was a respectable looking older man with a full white beard. "Mozenrath, meet your archetype, The Saint. Guess he's not a theory anymore." She hummed.

"Mr. Mozenrath, you'll be just fine. I've gotten the hospital to put this whole incident down as stress." He closed his charts and smiled.

"Wait… What happed to Nefret?" He asked, suddenly scared that no one had mentioned anything yet.

Roi produced a video tape from her purse. "I just received a copy of a very strange event that took place in Tokyo. I think you'll find it… interesting." Mozenrath smiled at her and let his head fall against the pillow.

She could see him long before she got out of security. He was standing in the middle of the airport corridor, dressed in his usual black, dripping with chains, but this time he had a smile on his face and roses in his hand. Chroias stood beside him holding chocolates and teddy bear. They were forced to let the gifts hit the deck when Nefret launched herself at them both. They managed to stay upright, a bundle of hugs and kisses.

"I missed you guys so much!" Nefret sighed once she forced herself to calm down. There was of course a news camera there filming the tearful reunion.

"And you could see how much we missed you." Moze chuckled. Since the event many people had brushed off the whole thing as a publicity stunt to jump start their struggling band. But it was still news. No one knew if Dreadful Child would be able to rise from the ashes so to speak, but right now it was the least of their worries.

Nefret had just been released from the hospital after her "nervous break down."

It was not until they had reached the relative sanctity of their apartment, away from the screaming fans and the paparazzi that they were able to talk freely.

"How do you feel?" Mozenrath stroked Nefret's hair.

"Odd. A little different, but not much." Nefret admitted.

"Freer?" Chroias interjected, "More independent? Less treaded upon?"

"Exactly!" Nefret tipped her head. "I never realized before how well… put upon I felt. But now I realize how sorry I was for myself all the time."

"You're a different Archetype now." Mozenrath pointed out.

"What?" Nefret breathed out, completely lost.

"We both are, dear. We changed our Roles in the universe, in humanities eyes." He laughed and handed her a soda.

"But how? I thought you said our Roles were set in stone, in pages of thousands of fairy tales." Nefret hit the sofa, still exhausted.

"But you see, we made our own fairy tale!" Chroias exclaimed. "A fairy tale just for us, just for us to live. Tailor made. It even has a happy ending."

Nefret thought about it for a moment, all the stories in all the papers, everyone sharing the tale, telling their friends, their children, the whole story circulation around the globe in a vibration of excitement and hunger. The entire world tuning to see it to the end. "I guess we did…" She smiled suddenly and kissed them both. "And they lived happily ever after."

"Hey, you can't break up the three musketeers." Mozenrath chuckled and pulled one girl to each side as they tuned into the TV to see the nightly news report about their reunion.

Truly they had made a modern fairy tale so extraordinary that it was sure to spawn a few books, maybe a movie, which was of course the modern version of the story book. They had created brand new Archetypes for the human unconsciousness. And in their own right they had become Legends as well.


	10. Fame and Bonds

It started off small at first. Mozenrath's face flicked on the screens of local citizens on the 6 o'clock news. And thought his was a strange face for housewives and elderly couples to see jammed between Wheel of Fortune and Everybody Loves Raymond, with his painted on pallor, long raven hair, and heavy eye make-up, his story captured the heart of every man woman and child who tuned in. And the stations ratings went up instantly.

Soon network news channels were calling and his viewing audience grew to include the tri county area. And as the cheery overly sympathetic news anchors ran clips of his interview throughout the week and commenting that they had no other updates on this "fascinating and heart wrenching story" Mozenrath was writing his article for publication in papers.

Chroias, as manger of Dreadful Child, kept in daily contact with music execs, and they told men high up then they were. Her goal was the very very tippy top, but it looked like there was a very long ladder to climb.

Neither one of them could go anywhere in their city without being instantly recognized. And Mozenrath would insist on speaking personally with each and every person who stopped him on the street, even those who just wanted to preach to him or invite him to "accept Jesus."

In the club they preformed in memory of their lost band mate, putting on a sad and probably very lacking show, but the audience didn't care. Especially when Mozenrath would bring out a chair after the last song and sit and talk with the audience about his plight. Even the most hardened, chain wearing, goth boys found themselves with mist in their eyes. He was weaving a spell around the state, and soon he would extend it to the country, and even farther.

Tokyo was a strange place, full of so many people that Nefret was unsure how they would ever track now just one. Looking for a single person in the world was like playing needle in a hay stack. But this was like playing needle in a burning hay stack while a pack of wild dogs ripped at your ankles. Aladdin didn't seem to mind. He was having fun taking it all in. He didn't seem bothered when Nefret brought up her concern, instead he was suddenly taken by a lovely piece of jewelry in a store window.

"That would look lovely on you." He commented, a sickenly sweet tone in his voice.

Nefret growled and forced herself to walk down the street. There's had been a strained relationship the past few days. Even though they personally felt more like brother and sister, if anyone had looked at them, sitting at the table of that fancy restaurant, they would have appeared the perfect couple. And Aladdin's attitude had suddenly changed. This whole trip had become more like a vacation to him than a last ditch effort to find his lost love. He was so out of it. Mean while every one here seemed so plugged in.

Everywhere she looked Nefret could see people on cell phones, e-mailing on their Blackberries, carrying papers. And slowly she noticed a theme with all the newspapers. Her face, and that of Mozenrath, was on them all. Upon realizing this she grabbed at one, but the Japanese business man behind it did not appreciate it all. Nefret ran down the street with Aladdin yelling after her and trailing.

She skidded to a stop in front of a news stand. Every music rag, celebrity mag, and teen heart throb paper was graced with the face of her lover. Desperate and excited Nefret gathered one of every kind in her arms, 6 in all, and slammed the money on the counter.

Aladdin finally caught up to her, but only after she had sat down on a bench and read through a few of the articles. "Nefret." He panted. "What's wrong? You shouldn't run off like that."

"He's looking for me!" Nefret shouted excitedly and shoved a paper at him. "He's gotten all these paper to publish letter, letters addressed to me!" She was about to jump and down when a girl in one of the most interesting ensembles Nefret had ever seen approached her. The little Japanese girl was dressed in an outfit similar to Nefret's own stage costume, but she was wearing it out in public, in the daytime, like it was normal everyday wear

"I see you are a fan of Dreadful Child?" She said in unpracticed but good English.

"Uh… I guess you could say that." Nefret looked down at her picture in the paper and suddenly realized why the girl did not recognize her. In the pictures in all the papers she was portrayed with hair teased to the ceiling, dark eye make up, and her lips pained like a little china doll. Nefret realized how different she must look, with a braid wearing t-shirt and jeans and only lip gloss.

"Yeah! They rock! It's so sad he lost his girlfriend. She ran away and he begs her to come back." The little gothic lolita took out her own magazine and pointed it out. "He's making a world wide call for her." She explained. "Tonight he even goes live to broadcast his message in hopes his girl will be watching, somewhere out there." She got dreamy for a moment.

"When?" Nefret surged suddenly.

"Tonight, 5 o'clock on most any station."

"Thank you!" Nefret hugged the girl and walked off, dragging Aladdin by the hand. The girl looked after them, thinking she'd just met a fan even more obsessed than her.

Nefret ignored Aladdin's comments until they reached the hotel, where he proceeded to speak to her though her room door. The airing of the show was only half an hour away and she needed to get ready.

"Nefret, are you listening to me?" Aladdin finally cried out. "I'm trying to tell you…" But as the door swung open he choked. Nefret stood there in her stage make-up and clothing, looking just as she did on the covers, like a broken doll.

"I'm sorry Aladdin. Can we talk later? I need to get down to city center."

"I'll go get a cab." He said dejectedly and stormed away.

The trip there was relatively silent. Aladdin kept trying to open his mouth, but words would not come out. It was only when they pulled up to center city that he realized the magnitude of this whole thing. The place was packed, everyone milling around until the big screen on the Sony building switched from news to the big show.

"Will you come here?" Aladdin hissed and pulled Nefret behind a tree. "Before someone see's you. You'll be instantly recognized."

"What is it Aladdin?" Nefret hissed back.

"I've been trying to tell you something important." He waited and saw that Nefret was ready to listen. "I'm giving up the search for my princess."

"What?" Nefret cried out, but he slapped a hand over her mouth to keep from drawing attention.

"It's just that… well I just don't see how I will ever find her and… even if I do she's probably changed. She probably found a prince archetype, not a hero one. She didn't need a hero archetype, just like I ultimately didn't need a princess archetype. You see, I've figured it out. That's why we didn't last. We weren't right for each other. And…" He took her hand. "I think I found what I need to be complete. A damsel in distress."

Nefret's eyes went wide. "Aladdin…" But just then the crowd went silent as the screen went black and then popped up again with an image of Mozenrath getting ready in his chair, fiddling with his microphone, clearing his throat and then looking directly into the camera. Nefret turned to see the screen, leaning out from her position behind the tree.

"Dear world." Mozenrath's voice rung out through the huge speakers someone had brought, it echoed around the square. Heard on radio's, portable TV's, and cell phone broadcasts. Under his chin there ran strings and strings of captions in about ever language imaginable, and to the side a cute little Japanese man, who sounded nothing like Mozenrath echoed his words in Japanese. "I'm addressing one of your most beautiful occupants. Though many may listen to my words, they are meant for only one person. That's you Nefret." He leaned in closer to the camera and the captivated audience leaned in as well. "I could say something trite, like I'm sorry, or I love you, but you never did fall for those things. I was a bad man since I was the day I came onto this world. Bad blood and bad flesh. I existed to make all that is bright brighter, and all that is pure purer. My only purpose on his world was to confirm the righteous, and light the path by showing others the darkness. Though many may have been seduced to follow me into night I am no angel. And though all that I do may seem beautiful in their wickedness, they are condemnable… I am condemnable. And then there was you, so innocent and full of life. I tied myself to you to gleam some of that light. I was like a blind man who never could see the light, but through you I could feel the warmth of day, and somehow understand what it must be like to walk in the sun. I loved you for your innocents, Nefret, for your light. But I fear it was that love that threatened those very virtues. I was dragging you into darkness while I clawed at you to reach the light." He took a moment to look away from the camera in thought. A murmur of understanding went through the crowd. Suddenly his face snapped back towards the audience with all the determination and fearlessness she knew in him. "I was mean to you. I was cold though I never meant to be. I have struggled to keep my nature in check, and sometimes failed. But every time I succeeded it was for you, because of you. I know I've said it before, but I've changed. I don't think you know how much. You won't know until you see it for yourself. I have been reborn. I'm still dark, but there is a light in me, one you put there. What I did was not right, I'd give the world to take it back. But I can't. The only thing I can ask, Nefret, if you're hearing this, wherever in the world you are right now, is to answer me." He leaned into the camera again and smiled for the first time during the show. "Will you come home to me Nefret?"

Nefret broke from Aladdin's grasp on her hand and ran into the crowd screaming at the top of her lungs. The crowd parted like the red sea for the little painted doll. It didn't' take long for the camera crew, which was on stand by about to report on the record breaking crowd, to catch up with her.

"Excuse me mam." One the female news anchor pulled her into frame excitedly. "Are you Nefret? Are you the one he's talking to?"

Nefret caught her breath for a moment and nodded. "Yes. Yes I am."

The news anchor grinned, hardly believing her luck; this was going to get her her own desk for sure. "I think the world is holding its breath… what is your answer?"

Just then Aladdin broke in between them. "Nefret, let's get out of here." He whispered, but it was of course picked up by the boon that had been swung over their heads.

"Aladdin you're my friend but what you're asking me…" Nefret trailed off, unable to finish.

"We belong together. The cosmos themselves proclaim it! You can't say you don't feel it too." He paused and she only looked away. The entire square looked on in amazement at the real live drama playing out in front of them. "You CANT say no to me, can you?"

Nefret felt the same thing she had felt when he had first asked her on this crazy trip, the same thing she felt when she was trying to send that e-mail, the same thing she felt when he had asked her to dinner. Her archetype was letting her know that no, no she could not say no to him, to this. It made her flee from home, it made her hide, and it made her have a fairy tale romance with the hero, just like it was supposed to be. Just like it was written.

Nefret's face twisted in pain. She was being compelled to go to Aladdin, her arms were twitching at her sides, ready to embrace the hero. Her lips burned, ready to accept his kiss. And she fought. Something inside of her broke, literally broke, as she nearly ripped herself from her place and took a step back. "No."

"What did you say?" Aladdin whispered, heart broken in some odd way. He knew he did not really love her, but he was so compelled to be with her. He felt like if he did not take her away, if he did not rescue her and make her his own the world would shatter.

"I said no!" Nefret blurted with more confidence. "I won't leave Mozenrath!"

Just then a cry rose from the crowd. Everyone was pointing at the screen. And so she looked. There she saw a killing sight. Mozenrath was doubling over in pain in the interview room of some far off television station. He spasmed twice and fell to the floor. Nefret watched as two men ran into the shot, panic stricken, the camera tilted to an odd angle and fuzzed before the screen turned to static.

By the time the audience and the reporter remembered that Nefret, poor Nefret, had been looking on, she was found collapsed on the ground at their feet.


	11. Tuned, JellO and Antilogs

This place was way too bright, and everything smelled clean, too clean. Mozenrath blinked several times but couldn't make out anything of comfort to tell him where he was. Voices, strange and ethereal were filtering in through his ears. He strained to make them out but they were fuzzy. Then he suddenly recognized the theme song to Jeopardy.

"What the hell?" He moaned and sat up, forcing his eyes open. A game show was playing itself out on the little TV stuck precariously on a wall mount. In front of him there sat a bowl of neon green Jell-O.

"Oh, Good. You're awake!" Chroias leaned into his field of view and smiled. "Hello sleepy head."

He groaned, half annoyed and half thankful. "Hello." He mouthed back. "I made it."

"Yeah, all in once piece." She confirmed. "I should know, I checked." And she winked in a way that assured him there were no major problems. "Your little experiment was successful professor."

"I'd hardly call it a 'little experiment' I could have been killed. We all could have been. But no harm no foul." Mozenrath shifted uncomfortable when he realized he was wearing one of those little gowns that tied in the back. "I had not thought about being in the hospital though. Did they find anything… strange?"

"Nah. Didn't even cut into you. You were just admitted for observation. You were knocked out cold, but your vitals were off the charts even though it had no cause! One of the nurses from the maternity ward said your heart beat looked just like those of a baby being born."

"Imagine that." Mozenrath laughed and shoved the Jell-O far away.

"Yeah, but other than that they said you'd be fine when you woke up. A real medical mystery. I found an old friend high up in the doctor chain." She motioned for the man behind the curtain to come forward. He was a respectable looking older man with a full white beard. "Mozenrath, meet your archetype, The Saint. Guess he's not a theory anymore." She hummed.

"Mr. Mozenrath, you'll be just fine. I've gotten the hospital to put this whole incident down as stress." He closed his charts and smiled.

"Wait… What happed to Nefret?" He asked, suddenly scared that no one had mentioned anything yet.

Roi produced a video tape from her purse. "I just received a copy of a very strange event that took place in Tokyo. I think you'll find it… interesting." Mozenrath smiled at her and let his head fall against the pillow.

She could see him long before she got out of security. He was standing in the middle of the airport corridor, dressed in his usual black, dripping with chains, but this time he had a smile on his face and roses in his hand. Chroias stood beside him holding chocolates and teddy bear. They were forced to let the gifts hit the deck when Nefret launched herself at them both. They managed to stay upright, a bundle of hugs and kisses.

"I missed you guys so much!" Nefret sighed once she forced herself to calm down. There was of course a news camera there filming the tearful reunion.

"And you could see how much we missed you." Moze chuckled. Since the event many people had brushed off the whole thing as a publicity stunt to jump start their struggling band. But it was still news. No one knew if Dreadful Child would be able to rise from the ashes so to speak, but right now it was the least of their worries.

Nefret had just been released from the hospital after her "nervous break down."

It was not until they had reached the relative sanctity of their apartment, away from the screaming fans and the paparazzi that they were able to talk freely.

"How do you feel?" Mozenrath stroked Nefret's hair.

"Odd. A little different, but not much." Nefret admitted.

"Freer?" Chroias interjected, "More independent? Less treaded upon?"

"Exactly!" Nefret tipped her head. "I never realized before how well… put upon I felt. But now I realize how sorry I was for myself all the time."

"You're a different Archetype now." Mozenrath pointed out.

"What?" Nefret breathed out, completely lost.

"We both are, dear. We changed our Roles in the universe, in humanities eyes." He laughed and handed her a soda.

"But how? I thought you said our Roles were set in stone, in pages of thousands of fairy tales." Nefret hit the sofa, still exhausted.

"But you see, we made our own fairy tale!" Chroias exclaimed. "A fairy tale just for us, just for us to live. Tailor made. It even has a happy ending."

Nefret thought about it for a moment, all the stories in all the papers, everyone sharing the tale, telling their friends, their children, the whole story circulation around the globe in a vibration of excitement and hunger. The entire world tuning to see it to the end. "I guess we did…" She smiled suddenly and kissed them both. "And they lived happily ever after."

"Hey, you can't break up the three musketeers." Mozenrath chuckled and pulled one girl to each side as they tuned into the TV to see the nightly news report about their reunion.

Truly they had made a modern fairy tale so extraordinary that it was sure to spawn a few books, maybe a movie, which was of course the modern version of the story book. They had created brand new Archetypes for the human unconsciousness. And in their own right they had become Legends as well.


End file.
